Wow. There is too much stuff going on, and it is of my own doing too.
I managed to get the first draft of a story I want to submit to Touched done this morning. Touched, from Haworth Press, “a queer-themed fantasy anthology of spells and magic, focuses on the mysteries of spells and gives readers an intimate look into the world of spell casting in all its myriad forms, through the unique viewpoints of queer storytelling and themes.” This is way outside my comfort zone of writing, but I like the genre and did quite a bit of fantasy role playing in college so I thought I’d give it a go. I gave a copy of the first draft to Will as well as to a friend I use to role play with. I don’t usually part with first drafts, but I really wanted to see if I’d managed to create a good plot and compelling characters before polishing it. It’s due June 15, so I’ve got some time to get the polish right.
Finding time to write has been tough these past two weeks. Back on May 7, I started a hockey training program that meets three nights a week for two hours per session. Not only is this really pummeling my body, the fact I don’t get home and ready for bed until nearly 11 makes it quite hard to get up early enough to write before work. I’m getting a couple mornings in, but by the end of the week I’m grabbing whatever sleep I can.
It’s also time for the Chelsea Challenge, the New York City Gay Hockey Association’s annual tournament. That comes up June 15-17, so I’m doing a lot of prep work now for that since I’m on the NYCGHA Board. I’m working on press releases and trying to round up a sponsor for T-shirts (which it looks like I’ve actually secured).
Of course, what I really want to do is have time with Will… it’s this that has really taken the hit with all this other stuff happening, especially the hockey training. So far he’s been really good about the lack of time I’m around, but I know he’d like me home a bit more in the evenings. Frankly I’d like to home more too. I’m enjoying the training, but when you talk about three nights a week/two hours a session in theory it doesn’t sound like a big deal. Now that I’ve lived it for two weeks I see what that really translates to. At least Will and I get additional quality time this week. I postponed this Thursday’s training because it’s date night for Xanadu and then Monday’s training isn’t happening because of the holiday.